Tasha Bates
(Photo by Dan Henry /Chattanooga Times Free Press)

Tasha Bates stands in front of potential jurors during jury selection in Judge Amy Reedy’s
Bradley County criminal courtroom.
(Photo by Dan Henry /Chattanooga Times Free Press)

Tasha Bates

Tasha Bates heads back into detention during a lunch break in Judge Amy Reedy's courtroom
during her trial on charges related to last summer's hyperthermia death of her two sons,
three-year-old River Bates and five-year-old Leland Bates.
(Photo by John Rawlston /Chattanooga Times Free Press)

Tasha Bates testifies during her trial in this file photo.
(Photo by John Rawlston /Chattanooga Times Free Press)

Tasha Bates, 27, looks at her mother and grandmother while being escorted out of the
courtroom after appearing before Judge Amy Reedy during a sentencing hearing at the
Bradley County Criminal Courthouse. Bates received two consecutive life sentences to
run concurrently with 40 years for aggravated child neglect in the overheating deaths
of her two sons Leland, 5, and River, 3, and drug charges.
(Photo by Dan Henry /Chattanooga Times Free Press)

The victims

Leland Bates, 5.

River Bates, 3.